Pouring Into Ourselves: 115+ Self-Care Ideas for Teachers Over Winter Break
Look Here for a Winter Break Reset
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Winter break offers more than a pause from lesson plans and deadlines. It is a chance to truly rest and restore, not by adding more “self-care” to our to-do lists, but by rethinking how we support ourselves in sustainable ways. I am intentionally trying to move past the buzzwords and focus on practices that can live alongside the realities of teaching and education. These are habits that become automatic responses to stress, overload, and the everyday chaos of this work.
These weeks matter. How we rest now shapes how we return, how we listen, respond, create, and care in the months ahead. Pouring into ourselves is not selfish; it is necessary. Our health, energy, and well-being ripple outward into the spaces and people we serve.
So, how will you spend your winter break?
Below you will find 115+ ideas for gentle, realistic self-care, organized into mental, physical, practical, social, writing-focused, and teacher-specific categories. I have also included a section at the end just for fellow mamas who are navigating rest alongside caregiving.
Start with some winter lofi music…
Mental Health Self-Care Tips
Read a book. May I recommend Children of Blood and Bone and Children of Virtue and Vengeance by Tomi Adeyemi? Then you can hop over to her blog where she teaches you how to be a writer. The movie is being filmed at the time of this post, so you can hop on the trilogy before the movie comes out!
Journal. Write down plans, thoughts, feelings, and any residual tension from the pre-winter break. Need some prompts? Read Cozy Up with 30 Hygge Journaling Prompts for a Mental Boost
Start a bullet journal and feel ready for the new year. Trust me. This community gets planning in a creative way.
Sit by a fire, Christmas Tree, or my current classroom favorite...a fireplace on Youtube...and soak in the atmosphere.
Reflect on ways to say, "NO" to more responsibilities or tasks at school. Want a great resource? Read Set Boundaries, Find Peace: A Guide to Reclaiming Yourself and follow along with the blog post reading guide.
Celebrate what you are saying "YES" to things that are helping kids.
Ask Alexa to play something relaxing in the morning while waking up. I play "sounds of the ocean" to remind me of water in the summertime or vacation.
Write down positive affirmations to remind yourself of the great job you are doing throughout the school year. I also like to write down my accomplishments for the past decade. In 2010, I was a brand new teacher. It is so affirming to think of all the ways I have changed over the years.
List 10 things you are wildly passionate about when it comes to your job. I bet the list surprises you. Post this somewhere by your desk when you return to work.
Journal about gratitude. What are you grateful for at work? What are you grateful for at home? What are you grateful for that you are able to do today?
Listen to podcasts or audiobooks. I love listening to the ones that pay particular attention to my hobby, blogging. What is your hobby? I currently love Happy As a Mother Podcast by Erica Djossa.
Put the phone, computer, tablet, Chromebook, general electronic device down...at a reasonable time.
And at the same time, feel free to watch make-up tutorials on YouTube. I love Jackie Aina, “Jackie, Jackie, Jackie, Jackie…”
Clean! Give yourself time after the holidays to recover from cooking and entertaining, and then clean out that one closet that is full of stuff. Cleaning this out removes the physical and emotional blockage from your home and life.
Clean your sheets or buy brand new ones. Trust me on this one. There is nothing like clean sheets or warm towels.
Buy new pillows. I tried washing our old pillows and they turned into puddles in the washing machine. I went and got new ones at Target. Our bed feels like a vacation bed.
Start a brand new New Year's Eve tradition. We get caught up in "starting fresh" for the new year. I am going to try reflecting on the accomplishments of the old year first. Our daughter’s birthday is on NYE, so I have all sorts of ideas for new traditions.
Snuggle a pet or a stuffy. I don’t have pets, but I always recognize the power of animals. No animals? Tap into your inner kid and get a new stuffy for the couch.
Netflix? Hulu? Any of the above! We are watching all of the shows! Stranger Things, anyone?
Get into the habit of keeping the same notebook or journal on your night-stand. Wake up with a lesson plan idea at 3 am? I do. Write it down and be able to go back to sleep. Give that information to the notebook. I am not looking at those until January, but then I am going to be excited to see a notebook full of ideas when I go back to lesson planning.
Make a mental mantra. Write it down so you are ready to repeat it in times of stress. Think: "All things are temporary" or "Finish each day and be done with it" etc.
Meditate. There is an app for that in case you do not know how to start. I love the Calm app.
Listen to this guided meditation. You will want to laugh and zone out at the same time.
Make a "Happy Things" board on Pinterest. I look through mine whenever I need a pick-me-up.
Google teacher memes. They are surprisingly accurate...all the time.
Set Boundaries, Find Peace: A Guide to Reclaiming Yourself
End the struggle, speak up for what you need, and experience the freedom of being truly yourself.
Healthy boundaries. We all know we should have them--in order to achieve work/life balance, cope with toxic people, and enjoy rewarding relationships with partners, friends, and family. But what do "healthy boundaries" really mean--and how can we successfully express our needs, say "no," and be assertive without offending others?
Licensed counselor, sought-after relationship expert, and one of the most influential therapists on Instagram Nedra Glover Tawwab demystifies this complex topic for today's world. In a relatable and inclusive tone, Set Boundaries, Find Peace presents simple-yet-powerful ways to establish healthy boundaries in all aspects of life. Rooted in the latest research and best practices used in cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), these techniques help us identify and express our needs clearly and without apology--and unravel a root problem behind codependency, power struggles, anxiety, depression, burnout, and more.
Physical Health Self-Care Tips
Work out. The time is available, and you will feel better. I doubt this every. single. time. Then, I get sick for three weeks. Start working out again? Sickness gone.
Sleep. And don't feel bad about it. We feel guilty for not setting an alarm sometimes. This is a time to relax, not "get ahead." For the mamas out there, put on the shows in the morning and sip the coffee a little slower than normal.
Drink your morning cup of coffee in your pajamas, or in bed, or on the couch under a blanket. We are often rushing out of the door to go to school or a meeting on time. Enjoy the time where you can actually not feel the stress of your body on a schedule.
Drink water. For the teachers, you get to use the bathroom at will for the next couple of weeks. Hydrate while possible!
Yoga. Serve your body and mind in a single practice. Namaste my teaching friends. I love YogaWithAdriene on YouTube. Her app has all of the routines I need, and I can choose to set the minutes for a session.
Grab a vitamin to start a regimen now. My personal favorites are B12, Zinc, Vitamin C, and a good MultiVitamin.
Pin ideas on Pinterest about workout motivation or create a “workout why” page to get you motivated on days when you feel completely burned out and tired.
Buy under-eye masks. I really like the ones from Burt's Bees. I look refreshed and awake after I take them off.
Invest in a good face moisturizer and gua sha tool. My late thirties are dedicated to taking small moments at the sink to start the day. I promise the gua sha tool makes everything less puffy.
Cook a great meal for your family. My favorite right now is Sausage Tortellini Soup. I also really like to incorporate our daughter into the cooking process as much as possible. She loves to add the spices.
Dry winter skin is begging for lotion. This doesn't have to be fancy. Put lotion on your feet and go take a nap. Hop out of a bath and put lotion on. Try to choose a scent that makes you happy.
Look at protein shakes. How can you make the trip to the copy machine easier and healthier? How can you hit protein goals for added energy?
Don't jump on a gym membership for the new year. I admire those teachers that can work out regularly and also teach. However, I know that I could not fit this into my life as a teacher with grading and the schedule.
Get a massage. Go to the doctor if you have been putting it off. Go get glasses. Stop by the dentist. See the people you need to see to get healthy.
Look into meal-planning or what you are eating for lunch. Research things that might make your lunchtime easier when you go back to school. (Research can also be pinning ideas from Pinterest on your “school lunch” board)
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Practical and Work-Related Self-Care Tips
SET THE VACATION RESPONDER ON YOUR EMAIL. Nobody needs you during this time period. Work will be there when we return in January.
Get new school supplies. Something about a new set of gel pens makes me want to look at that stack of final drafts that are sitting in my to-grade tote.
Restock on ink for your printer. I don't know about you, but as I get more tired approaching the holiday season, I forget to get the ink. Make your life easier when you return to school.
Dig out a new school bag. Nothing feels better than getting a new work bag organized for school when you return.
Clean out your INBOX. Don't respond to parent or work emails unless they are urgent... you are on break. However, you can make folders, delete, and mark those that need a response right away when you return.
Put positive affirmations on your alarm clocks for work. This will be a great surprise when you are headed back to the old grind.
Service your vehicle. I never have time during school hours. Get the oil change, the new tires, or the tune-up that is needed in the winter months.
Reflect on the budget. Where can you save money? Where should you be spending it? Think minimalism and financial health for the new year. If money is a stressor in your life, then actively work at trying to take control of your finances.
Figure out ways to leave the expandable crate that carries all of your papers home in one fell swoop. I am setting a goal in the new year: I am only taking papers home that fit into my teacher bag. Not in a giant box on wheels.
Buy a new travel mug or ask for one as a gift. These feel like small luxuries during school time. My teacher friend at school just gave me a mug that says, “I’m not feeling very worky today.” It makes me so happy.
Watch episodes of Fixer Upper on HGTV because they will make you want to redecorate your house. Inspiration leads to the results here. If no actions are taken, think of ways to improve your house or fix it up.
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Social Self-Care Tips
Get on social media...in a good way. Check out other teacher instagrams or twitters. They offer some amazing support!
Schedule coffee or tea with a school friend. It is amazing being able to sit down and speak to a friend from school when you aren't trying to eat lunch, grade, and run around.
Schedule a meet-up with a non-school friend. I value other perspectives that are not in the school buildings each day.
Go out to dinner. And lunch. And breakfast. We don't often get to do these luxuries like sit down and eat or even go out to eat.
Call family or friends you haven't spoken with in awhile.
Bake cookies. Everyone gets to eat cookies. Our favorite trick in our house is to add white chocolate chips to chocolate chip cookies….Yum.
Cook a new recipe from Pinterest for the family. I swear Pinterest may be one of the main reasons that I started cooking in the first place. Invite people over to enjoy.
Go to a new restaurant, coffee shop, or local shop in your city or town. Take the time to explore.
Join Facebook or IG support groups of teachers. Again with the social media....there are great connections and supports out there with amazing ideas.
Network with community organizations that can help kids. These are great places to find programming for kids, build partnerships, and make connections that are helpful in your classroom.
Schedule time for family. Literally, put it into your planner. I like to put TV watching time with my husband into my planner. New Marvel season on Disney+? Yes, please. Book it. Movie with my daughter? Make it a “winter break date.”
Go see a play, museum exhibit, art gallery, or show. Even the movies count. Go see other peoples' work to help inspire your work.
Grab a coffee and walk every inch of Target. Look at each section slowly and carefully. I am not advocating spending all the money. I am advocating spending the time browsing and looking. Window shopping can sometimes be the best medicine to stress. Add in a cake pop for the little ones.
Take a road trip with a friend. Even if it is a small one, take a longer trip to the bookstore that is 25 minutes away or a park that you have never been to before.
Plan a trip with friends for the summer. Now is the time to start planning bigger trips in the summer so we can get excited. We can start saving, planning, and dreaming.
Comment on teacher blogs and become an active voice in your community. Subscribe to those same blogs to stay current on new posts, strategies, and issues.
Join social media conversations about teaching. I have talked to some great authors that I never would have spoken with because of the magic of Twitter/X, IG, and Tik Tok.
Put a gift or a card in a neighbor's mailbox.
Host a friend get-together at your house. Plan fun appetizers or fancy drinks. I tried to muddle basil once...
Attend a New Years Event or make your own quieter traditions.
Apples & Pearls Teddy Pouch
From The Darling Effect! These fit a Hobonichi Weeks planner or N2 common planner from Sterling Ink perfectly.
Cozy sherpa fabric
Wipeable lining
Gold zipper and hardware
Interior printed lining
Writing Specific Self-Care Tips
WRITE! Whatever genre calls to you. Get out a fresh notebook and write some words down of your own. Fiction story? Yes! Kids book? Oh, yes. Poetry? Please and thank you!
Research ways to cut down on grading or paperwork during the school year.
Volunteer to lead a writing workshop for a local organization or community center. Give back.
Read books on writing...not just the teaching of writing. I love Stephen King's On Writing or Anne Lamott's Bird by Bird.
Check out rubric codes. Seriously, they have changed how I do business.
Work Pixar shorts into your teaching of writing. Kids love them. You will love them. You can use them for teaching dialogue, description, or sequencing.
Look at Joy Writing.
Submit a proposal to present at a conference for next year. As we approach January, you can see when different conferences like the National Council of Teachers of English are accepting proposals. Let’s give to our professional learning communities and share our experiences.
Get a hold on grammar instruction with mentor texts. Kids learn to love books for the stories they read, but they also learn to mimic the authors’ writing as well.
Make a plan to participate in NaNoWriMo in November or start making a novel. An agent at a conference I went to said that teachers make the best writers because they have already read a ton of the books in the market in their age-group. Time to make a story!
Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life
“Superb writing advice…. Hilarious, helpful, and provocative.” —The New York Times Book Review
For a quarter century, more than a million readers—scribes and scribblers of all ages and abilities—have been inspired by Anne Lamott’s hilarious, big-hearted, homespun advice. Advice that begins with the simple words of wisdom passed down from Anne’s father—also a writer—in the iconic passage that gives the book its title:
“Thirty years ago my older brother, who was ten years old at the time, was trying to get a report on birds written that he’d had three months to write. It was due the next day. We were out at our family cabin in Bolinas, and he was at the kitchen table close to tears, surrounded by binder paper and pencils and unopened books on birds, immobilized by the hugeness of the task ahead. Then my father sat down beside him, put his arm around my brother’s shoulder, and said, ‘Bird by bird, buddy. Just take it bird by bird.’”
Teaching and Classroom Specific Self-Care Tips
Open up a book on pedagogy, strategy, or something with your content area. I was really revived after reading Kelly Gallagher's In The Best Interest of Students.
Write out days to rest in your planner. Stick to it.
Make a self-care kit. No, self-care is not about bubble baths. However, self-care is also about being prepared. Make a self-care kit.
Buy a new calendar to hang in your classroom. Choose one that has positive quotes or one that you will look forward to turning its pages. I adore the one that has the Underwater Dogs. It makes me smile every time.
Collaborate with other teachers about how to work more in a cross-curriculum format. Whenever I work with other teachers, I become a better teacher.
Start a new school tradition to battle burnout. During testing season, my building used to hide trolls throughout the building and do a building wide scavenger hunt. It is amazing the small things that can bring people together and lift morale.
Revisit how you assign homework. I love the Article of the Week. What do you do for homework? Is it working?
Plan a really fun Kahoot lesson. No Kahoot? Try Blooket.
Figure out a morning routine. This may be morning pages or journaling, or some kind of start to your day that can focus on mind, body, or soul. Start practicing now over break!
If morning routines don't work for you, think of an end-of-the-day routine. How do you want to end the school day? How do you want to wind down before bed? Start rehearsing this routine now!
If you get a plan time during the day, develop a routine for plan. Start with copies and end with phone calls? Get into the habit of using this time wisely and planning it out. We often lose time and it is often because we are overwhelmed and sit and dote on plan...instead of working.
Ask Santa or whoever asks what you want for the holidays as a gift for some headphones. Use them at school. This music will help you focus your time during plan or after school. Headphones can also send a clear message: I am working.
Plan out days to use those sick days. Look at January and February and pick a day to schedule your next day off over break.
Create a new sub-binder so leaving is easier. I made a post here called, “The Writing Teacher’s Guide to Sub Plans.” Let’s make taking time off easier all the way around.
Plan time to leave your building during the day. Even if it is just stepping outside to get a breath of fresh air or go grab a coffee. I want to start working this in to once a week on plan going to get a treat from the local coffee shop.
Think about your classroom. Does one area need some love or attention? Maybe plan out a new bulletin board or pick an area to add some flexible seating. Show that spot in your room some love when you return.
Keep positive notes from kids in a notebook or box. Write down amazing things they say or write them on stickies and put them in books or journals. These small sentiments are what drives us as educators. A simple, "I get it now!" or "Why do we only write in your classroom?" mean the most to me when I am tired.
Figure out ways to work self-care into the classroom for kids. Mindfulness minute? Deep breathing? If we need self-care, they need it too.
After taking some time off, do some future lesson planning. Give yourself permission to dream of exciting new lessons. I like to call these “soul projects” because they feed my soul and theirs. I mean, really, all projects should be soul projects…
Start a teaching blog. I started Writing Mindset in 2017, and it has been one of the best decisions I have ever made.
Think of a way to thank a co-worker or give a compliment. These notes and words are appreciated.
Preview texts or books for kids that are in their age range. I love reading YA novels because then I become the master recommender during library time. I also love looking at picture books because I like to think of ways to incorporate them into my lessons.
Avoid boredom. Plan a new twist on an old lesson. Make the week back at school so exciting that YOU would want to be a student sitting in your classroom.
Try out a new planning platform. I love Planboard on Chalk.com. I also recently redid all of my lesson planning so I am working on a Google Doc for six weeks at a time. It has streamlined how I submit my lesson plans to the administration.
Look at new teacher apps and figure out how to incorporate them into your classroom. I love Google Classroom, and I love using new platforms in the classroom to see if they work out or not.
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Mama and Motherhood Self-Care Tips
I became a mama in the winter of 2020. I wanted to add this section because the role of the teacher-mama is one that is like no other. We care for other people’s children and also our own. We give to other families and give to our own households. Winter Break can also be a time to find areas of self-care that are based on the daily experience of motherhood. You could really take from any of the above sections, but here are some that are tied directly to being a mama.
Find time for journaling. Read my blog post “How to Find Time for Journaling as a First-Time Mom”
Write down some Mama Affirmations. You are doing a great job.
Create special snacks for yourself or make something to eat you really enjoy. Maybe a day’s menu is based on what you want to eat?
Listen to your own choice of music when you can. I don’t have to always be dancing to the Bluey theme song (Even though I do love it)
Choose to do some activities with kids that you really enjoy. I love reading, and I can tell that she is watching me read and catching on.
Read when you can. I just finished Born Behind Bars by Padma Venkatraman during one nap period session on a Sunday. It was that good! I don’t feel bad anymore about abandoning books because they have to hold my attention, but I keep trying with different books. I don’t want to give up on reading.
Schedule a date night with your spouse. We don’t have a ton of family support, but scheduling a date night 1-2 times a month has been so key. We love going to grab a quick dinner or going see a movie.
Start a tradition with the kids. I have friends who love Elf on the Shelf. I collect ornaments each year and have done so since I was a kid. I am starting our daughter on the tradition this year, too. We wrote on the back of her ornament and hung it up where she can see it.
Treat yourself to a new mama item. I love a planner to help me track baby’s schedule, but maybe you want another item? Nursing bra? Diaper bag? Leggings you love? Spurge on something that you need in your routine and will make you smile.
Schedule time to meet with another mama for a playdate or setup coffee with a friend. Sometimes having a listening ear really solves all the problems and gives you a sounding board for when you might need to vent or get advice (Hello, bottle weaning!).
From One Mom to a Mother: Poetry & Momisms (Jessica Urlichs: Early Motherhood Poetry & Prose Collection)
"I want to tell you everything I know
carry you and guide you
yet somehow, as your tiny finger points
to things in wonder
and your eyes meet mine
the paradigm shifts
I once thought I was to show you the world
when all along you came to show me."
Poignant, raw and beautifully honest pieces on motherhood.
"my go to gift for new mothers"
'From One Mom to a Mother' is written in a refreshingly honest tone that will touch the soul of so many on this same beautiful, yet challenging journey. Whether you laugh or cry you will put it down feeling less alone and having made a friend in a book . Jessica shares her passion and love for her children on this tale of self discovery, that two people were born that day.
